The final Friday before PDAC sees some M&A in the mix, with Endeavour Mining taking over Mark O'Dea's True Gold Mining and its Karma mine-in-the-making in Burkina Faso.
It's been an at-times crazy journey for Karma, which is nearing production after surviving a coup that toppled the longtime leader of Burkina Faso as well as local rioting that shut down mine construction for a time.
Karma's high-grade ore is contained in five deposits and the project has been back on track of late, with first gold pour projected for Q1 2016.
The deal is valued at C$240 million fully diluted, or 57 cents per True Gold common share, a 43% premium to Thursday's closing price. True Gold shares began the year at 23.5 cents.
For Endeavour Mining, the West Africa-focused producer uses its strong share price -- up 69% YTD -- to pick up a near producer to bolt on to its existing operations. Endeavour produced 517,000 ounces of gold last year at AISC of US$922/oz and was projecting 2016 production of between 575,000 and 600,000 ounces (pre-Karma).
In hindsight, there were a few hints beyond the Burkina Faso connection.
True Gold has been cleaning house in the C-suite, and several of the appointments have had an Endeavour Mining flavour. New CEO Christian Milau came over directly from Endeavour Mining a year ago -- he was Executive VP and CFO there -- and David Laing, who took over as True Gold's chief operating officer last June, was one of Endeavour's original executives.
